Hiram tucker



n 3 i N atcnt filo.

IMPROVED MODE OI ORNAMENTING- METAL SURFACES.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HIRAM TUCKER, of Newton, in the county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in the Ornamentation of Metal Surfaces; and 1 do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of my invention sufficient to enable thoseskilled in the art to practise it.

For many purposes, either utilitarian or ornamental,

. or both combined, it is desirable to produce on metal,

contrasts of adjacent surfaces.

My invention relatesto a peculiar process for producing, on metal bodies, contrasted surfaces of deposited metal, and of paint, pigment, varnish, japan, or equivalent matter, preferably having an oil base, applied in a fluid or se i i-fluid condition and bardened by evaporation of the volatile parts thereof, preferably by exposure to heat, which may be of a degree suflicient to carbonize, or partially carbonizc the fluid coating; and my invention also comprises, as new articles of' manufacture, objects having a metal base treated by my process, which will be understood from the following description of my treatment of the specific article shown in the drawing, said article representing a pull and sign-holder fora drawer, and having a body of cast-iron, ornamented and protected by my improved process.

The metal body is first cleansed from sand, scale, grease, and other foreign matter. It is then coated with the fluid or semi-fluid material before referred to, or the equivalent thereof, of any desired color, which will harden, the hardening being preferably done under heat, as before stated.

When this coating is hardened, the article is submitted preferably to the action of an emery-wheel, in such manner asto cause, the removal, by abrasion, of the hardened coating from the salient. parts, and the abrasion is continued until the metal of the salient parts is removed sufficiently to leave the surfaces thereof smooth and polished.

The same result may be obtained by theuse of files, scrapers, and emery-cloth, or sand-paper, but not generally so cheaply or so effectively as by the employ ment of rotary grinders and polishers.

The salient parts of the metal may be smoothed and polished prior to the application of the fluid coating, so that in removing the hardened varnish, &c., scrapers may be used with but slight subsequent action on the metal itself, suflicient to insure its freedom from foreign matter. g

The article of metal in'th'e condition produced by the treatment described, is now treated by the electrometallurgic process, to cause deposit on the clean, smooth, and polished salient metal surfaces of any metal, which is to show in contrast tosurfaces previously coated, as described.

The smoother and more highly finished the salient surfaces of the metal base, the finer will be the appearance of the electro-deposited metal thereon, which deposit, if made thick enough, may itself be polished.

By successively applying and hardening the fluid or semi-fluid coats on the article, such coating may be made of sufficient thickness to be finished level or flush with the salient surfaces of the metal, thus presenting the appearance of a fused enamel ground at less cost and less risk of injury to the metal base.

The fluid or semi-fluid coatings maybe applied by the use of a brush or by dipping the articles in a bath ofthe coating-mat'eriaL It will usually be preferable to conceal the original color of the metal base by the fluid coating, which is accomplished by adding to the varnish, or other coating, if limpid or transparent in whole or in part, any desired coloring-matter.

If the article is of iron, it may be colored as described in my United States Letters Patent, No. 40,964, and in the reissues thereof, Nos. 2,355 and 2,356, after which the fluid or semi-fluid coatings applied may be colorless varnish or a body-color may be applied to the metal base, which, when hardened, is covered by varnish, also afterward hardened.

My process may also be performed under another modification, producing the described new manufacture, as follows:

The metal base is first polished on its salient parts, and is then coated by electro-dcposit all over, or at least on the surfaces, both salient and depressed, which are to be exposed to view. Then the surfaces socoated are to be covered with a fluid or semi-fluid coating, as described, which, before it is hardened, is wiped off from the salient surfaces, and the fluid coating remaining on the article is then hardened, as before set forth.

. I claimthe process, and its modifications, substantially as set forth, by which contrasted surfaces are produced on a metal base.

- Also, as a new manufacture, articles of metal, surfaced by my described process, or its described modification, substantially as set forth.

HIRAM TUCKER.

Witnesses:

J. B. GRosBY, S. B. Kmnnn. 

